1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner that has a downsized in-vehicle air conditioning unit.
2. Description of Related Art
FIGS. 6A, 6B show an in-vehicle air conditioning unit of a vehicle air conditioner. The air conditioning unit has a blower unit 15A and a conditioning body unit 16A. The blower unit 15A blows air to the conditioning body unit 16A. The conditioning body unit 16A adjusts temperature of the air blown from the blower unit 15A, and blows the conditioned air to a passenger compartment of a vehicle.
The conditioning body unit 16A is disposed in an instrumental panel 13, which is disposed in a front section of the passenger compartment 10, in a vicinity of a central position of a vehicle width direction. As shown in FIG. 6B, the blower unit 15A is disposed in a lateral area of the conditioning body unit 16A. In other words, the blower unit 15A is disposed in front of a seat of a passenger.
In such an arrangement, since the blower unit 15A is disposed to shift from the conditioning body unit 16A in the lateral area, an inside air inlet opening 40A of the blower unit 15A can be disposed in a certain place that is free from an obstruction, for example apart from a dashboard 12. Accordingly, it is easy to ensure enough area as an opening area of the inside air inlet opening 40A. Thus, it is easy to ensure maximum cooling capacity during an inside air suction mode.
However, it is required to prepare a large space from the front space of the passenger to the central position to mount the in-vehicle air conditioning unit in the instrument panel 13. Therefore, it is desired to reduce the mounting space of the air conditioning unit.
FIGS. 7A, 7B show another air conditioning unit of a comparison example that is considered by the inventors. The air conditioning unit has a blower unit 15B and a conditioning body unit 16B in a single conditioning housing 17B. The blower unit 15B has a blower fan 19. The conditioning body unit 16B has a heat exchanger. The blower unit 15B and the conditioning body unit 16B are disposed directly adjacent to each other in a front-and-rear direction of the vehicle so that the blower unit 15B and the conditioning body unit 16B are integrated in a single unit. In such an air conditioning unit, side space to mount the air conditioning unit can be significantly reduced.
In the comparison example, the air conditioning unit has an outside air inlet opening 22 and an inside air inlet opening 40B. The outside air inlet opening 22 is disposed above the inside air inlet opening 40B so that both ports 22, 40B face the dashboard 12. In such an arrangement, it is difficult to provide enough area of the inside air inlet opening 40B due to the outside air inlet opening 22 and peripheral devices in the instrument panel 13. In addition, the dashboard 12 may cause a shortage of the sucking air amount from the inside air inlet opening 40B because the dashboard functions as an obstruction (resistance). This reduces a maximum cooling capacity in a condition of the inside air suction mode.